Cameron D. Clarke of Jersey City competes in the state finals of the 2013 Poetry Out Loud contest held in Princeton in March. At its meeting Thursday, the arts council awarded a grant for next year's competition. (Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger)

ENGLEWOOD — The state Council on the Arts approved six grants Thursday worth more than $164,00 to support arts education, media, folk arts and poetry programs.

All of the grants were approved unanimously and without discussion, including the last one, which included no dollar amount.

Described only as "the balance of remaining FY13 funds," the grant to Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey will support the 2013-14 Poetry Out Loud competition, part of the national poetry recitation contest organized by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

Officials said the grant could be as much as $10,000, but won’t know until the end of the fiscal year when they figure out exactly how much money they have to spend.

"We’re not trying to hide anything," council spokeswoman Allison Tratner said after the meeting, held at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood. "We want to be as specific as we can."

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The money distributed yesterday represents the last of the council’s $16 million grants budget and comes from two sources: grants awarded last July but completely or partially declined by the organizations receiving them, and from money budgeted for agency operations that was not spent.

The council typically uses its May meeting — the final of the fiscal year — to approve partnership grants that spend down its unused dollars. Yesterday’s spending represents less than 2 percent of this year’s grants budget. The awards are made to groups already receiving council money. They do not require matching funds, a mandate of most of the arts council‘s grants.

The largest grant, $66,950, was awarded to Young Audiences and Arts Horizons to support 26 long-term arts residencies in New Jersey schools during the 2013-14 academic year. The council also approved $60,000 to Richard Stockton College for the ongoing effort to archive and repurpose 30 years of the "State of the Arts" public television series.

Playwrights Theatre received another $24,500 to host the showcase for the 2013 literary fellowships, while the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences received $10,000 to host the fellowship showcase for the visual arts. A grant of $3,000 was approved for Wheaton Arts, to buy more supplies for its folk arts education program.